Community Development Projects
Educate – Empower – Transform
Our Work
When invited to help people which is usually through the Anglican Church, we try to establish the needs and solutions that can be provided by CDP. An assessment of local capacity is carried out and an implementation plan developed from findings.
Our approach is flexible because using local knowledge, skills and resources is a priority. Several elements may be used but not limited to.
Community Development Training
Is based on the saying:
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Training aims to break the dependency cycle and transform communities by unleashing hidden potential.
To do this, CDP works alongside and assists local community development workers.
Where there are no community development workers, we provide training to community leaders. Its purpose is to enable local people to create cohesive, self-help projects through empowerment and guide them towards a better and healthier life.
Community Banking
We provide the community leaders with training and resources needed to establish community banking which is the building block for successful and prosperous projects.
Village banks mobilise people and create access to basic financial services for poor households on a sustainable basis through community/village mutual trust, relationships, accountability, and participation.
Education for Girls
Education for girls is often not a priority in poor communities, and families rely on their daughters to look after the home. It’s common for them to marry after Primary school, and there are few choices or opportunities available. Even if they gain entry to a government school, the dropout rate is high, usually due to pregnancy or a lack of finances. In a culture where women are not highly respected, even traveling to school, or studying in a co-educational setting, can be unsafe.
CDP is providing scholarships for girls from poor families who have shown potential during their time at primary school.
Health and Hygiene
CDP is currently working on a project to help families in poor communities fight infection and malaria by using eucalyptus oil and showing them how to extract oil from the leaves as well as providing education on its benefits.
Strategic Planning
Often, people have a vision and enthusiasm but don’t know where to start.
CDP helps and provides coaching in strategic planning processes. The process starts with defining goals, assessing its current situation, developing strategies, implementing those strategies, and then evaluating and revising the plan as needed. This process helps to align resources and efforts to achieve desired outcomes.
Current Projects
Mothers' Union, Tarime Diocese
The Anglican Church of Tanzania Church and Community Mobilization Programme.
There are 33 churches in the Diocese. The CCMP is a Bible-based, guided training approach that a local church can use with its community to identify the resources they have, then, working together, bring about long-lasting, whole-life change. It’s a process that first envisions a church to integral mission theology and then empowers church members to live out their faith in a holistic way, responding to the needs of the local community.
Talanta PrePrimary School, Tarime
The community of Tarime doesn’t have access to before school education in the area. School begins at age 7 for children in Tanzania with preschools being designed for those between the ages of 5 and 6.
Tarime is a place where there is a substantial imbalance between men and women, particularly through the control of land, agricultural produce and ownership of livestock. This imbalance between men and women is also reflected in access to education. By providing quality education to both boys and girls, the preschool actively works against this inequality.
This project will enable all children to have stronger academic skills, and an increased familiarity with schooling environments. This will help them as they move into primary school, reducing rates of dropping out, and in turn equipping them with skills they will use through their entire life.
Tarime Girls Secondary School
After years of planning, fundraising and building, this new Christian secondary school for girls opened in Tarime in January 2025.
CDP has provided scholarships for six girls opening up new opportunities for them. Girls tend to be left behind in Tanzania. Some communities see them as second-class citizens and they often only complete primary school. But a secondary education will give them better employment opportunities and options besides child marriage.
Christian secondary education as a way of combating Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a practice which is common in Tarime. At school, girls can be taught about the dangers of FGM. They can have confidence, knowing they have been made in God’s image, without needing to undergo this harmful procedure.
The effects of educating girls at Tarime will be felt beyond the school and into the future. “Education creates champions of change. If you train people, you educate them well, they know Jesus Christ,” said Bishop Mwita. “They then go to become messengers of the good news of Jesus Christ, people who can live their lives to the full, knowing Jesus Christ but also influencing others in society . . . Just imagine unleashing 800 girls into the community after some years to go and become agents of change.”
In the video below, listen to Bishop Mwita Akiri explain the need for a girls’ school in Tarime.
Eucalyptus oil extraction
Malaria is a life-threatening disease spread to humans by some types of mosquitoes. It is mostly found in tropical countries. It is preventable and curable.
The infection is caused by a parasite and does not spread from person to person.
In 2023, the WHO African Region was home to 94% of malaria cases (246 million) and 95% (569 000) of malaria deaths.
Children under 5 accounted for about 76% of all malaria deaths in the Region.
Infants, children under 5 years, pregnant women and girls, travellers and people with HIV or AIDS are at higher risk of severe infection.
Malaria can be prevented by avoiding mosquito bites and with medicines. Treatments can stop mild cases from getting worse.
Eucalyptus oil can be used as an insect repellent by diluting it with a carrier oil, applying it topically, or diffusing it into the air.
CDP is planning to teach community development workers the benefits of eucalyptus oil and how to extract it from leaves. Our hope is that people will be able to make the oil themselves and use it as a multipurpose repellent/disinfectant.
Commencing July 2025
Strategic Planning, Rorya Diocese
Website development and maintenance
CDP will rebuild the diocese website which has been unchanged for over 12 years, we will then assist by providing future updates and help with the production and publishing of information and stories to keep the churches and schools in the diocese informed on what is happening in their area.
Community Banking Groups
CDP will assist with traing community leaders in community banking as requested.
St Peter’s Pre English Medium School, Kowak
The preschool was started this year with 23 children. There are two classrooms and a playground.
Work is needed on the toilets, rest rooms and playgrounds. The most important need is the school bus to bring the children and return them home safely.
CDP will provide early childhood play based learning resources.
Rorya Leadership Development
Over the past ten years, the number of parishes has doubled, highlighting the need for more evangelists and pastors. Many workers are needed to lead the churches and communities, to teach the Bible, to reach the unreached, to provide information on health and education and to protect from extremists seeking to radicalise young people.
The students come from across the region of Rorya, mainly from farming and fishing backgrounds, and are often unable to afford to pay the course fees. Kowak Theological College offers a Certificate of Theology which is a three-year Undergraduate course. The students study Theology, Church History, Ethics, Pastoral Care and Community Development, among other things.
Anglican Aid and the Diocese are supporting the College to teach Tanzanian students and place trainees in parishes. Anglican Aid is also helping to improve the long-term sustainability of the College through farming and agricultural business projects.
Rorya Farmer Training
Together with the Diocese of Rorya, Anglican Aid is seeking to improve crop yields, food security and income for local families through an agriculture and development project.
In Rorya, Tanzania, about 85% of the population rely on small scale farming for their livelihoods but the farmers are using traditional methods which result in low crop yields and income. Low incomes mean they aren’t able to adequately support their families with food, education, housing, clothes and medical care. Farming methods are also causing environmental damage through deforestation.
The Rorya Farmer Training Project will:
• Establish model farms to train farmers.
• Introduce farmers to improved methods that cover choice of seeds and crops and use of tools, fertilisers, irrigation and weeding.
• Help farmers store crops so they can sell them over a longer period at higher prices.
• Plant tree nurseries to address deforestation in Rorya.
The project is based in the Ryagoro parish in Rorya with local church leaders selecting participants who will most benefit from the project.
